My old 2005 single core HP laptop runs just as fast with 8.1 as it did with XP. That would not be the case with Win 7. It also boots up in less than half the time it did with XP.
I'd take 8 anyday. Might be annoying for some because of the metro design ETC. but it's worth it for the smoothness and efficiency it provides.
Windows 8 doesn't let me change the sound sample rate and bit depth, says format unsupported by sound card Guessing this is because the sound card is old? or bad drivers? also Win8 takes longer to boot for me
If it takes longer to boot then something is wrong. Possibly incompatible drivers loading or something.
I vacillate between the 2 OS's and "generally" prefer 8.1. But if I had an 'either or' choice between the two, no question about it, W7 by a mile. There are some things that just disgust me with 8.1. One is the ridiculous inconsistency in accessing network shares from some PCs in my workgroup. No matter how many permissions and access allowances I've allowed, the bitch does not connect to a certain PC. It connects with no probs from windows 7 and from other 8.1 machines, just not the main one I work with. I've troubleshooted it from hell and back and no go. Dont want to re-install either, much easier to just reboot into 7 where everything works like a charm. So for serious PC usage and work needing to be done, 8.1 gets the royal middle finger from me. For gaming, media, web browsing and general usage, its OK.
I ended up staying with windows 8.1 as it meets my media needs better then windows 7. I dont have any problems with gaming. if a game dont work in windows 8.1, then I just use vmware to play the game. and no performance problems there. media is better in windows 8.1 for me because,I watch netflix while surfing or just watching a movie and it has better surround support in windows 8.1 then windows 7. in windows 7 your stuck with web browser and microsoft silverlight and it doesnt offer 5.1 surround. boot time is still impressive to me. windows 8 is the only system that has let me instantly start browsing the web right after login. windows 7 I had to wait for it to finish loading startup items or the browser wouldnt load correctly or explorer would stop responding because I was pushing the system. I used to hate windows 8, but feelings change.
Having no issues with Windows 8.1, except that sometimes desktop icons are not responding after I switch over from an explorer window. Could be an HDD issue though...
